Look to King, not Pitts, for direction

In the midst of Leonard Pitts’ column justifying mob violence in Ferguson, Missouri, (“Hurting people sometimes riot in an outcry of rage,” Aug. 14) we are told that “... Trayvon Martin, [was] shot to death in Sanford, Florida, because a self-appointed neighborhood guardian judged him a thug.”

A quick check of that trial record will show that a jury found the “neighborhood guardian” Mr. Pitts is referring to acted in self-defense only after Mr. Martin was sitting on his chest and pounding the back of his head onto a concrete sidewalk.

Rioters in Ferguson, Missouri, should look elsewhere than Mr. Pitts for guidance. The writings of Martin Luther King Jr. are widely recommended.